A third minute goal from full back Sam Oliver was enough for North West Counties Division One South side Stockport Georgians to beat Premier League side Prestwich Heys and was one of the shocks of the day at Cromley Road in the Macron Cup First Round.
Heys came into this one in fine form having beaten Padiham 4-0 in the league on the Tuesday night and fielded a near full strength side against a Stockport team recently promoted to the counties level.
The opening exchanges went to plan for the home side in the third minute as the ball came to full back Sam Oliver twenty-five yards out who's cross come shot looped over Prestwich keeper Russ Saunders into the top left corner of the net to stun the visitors.
Back came Heys with Jacob Ngoy firing over the bar in the tenth minute and as the rain poured down Prestwich tried to get a grip of the midfield it was striker Matt Davies whose shot was blocked in a crowded penalty area in the twenty eighth minutes and shortly after Callum Nicholas brought a terrific save from Georgians James Hodges.
Kyle Jacobs then shot over the bar for Prestwich as they heaped the pressure on Stockport and again Ngoy had a shot deflected wide on forty-three minutes with another missed chance for Davies just after and as the referee blew for half time the home side were relieved to still be in front but the finishing from Heys was letting them down.
Prestwich came quickly out of the blocks in the second half and Connor Berry was first to show bringing another save from Hodges bottom left and again Berry eight yards out on fifty-eight minutes keeping Hodges busy.
Stockport briefly threatened on the hour with a shot on the right from twelve yards going wide and one sensed they were weathering the storm from the visitors, as a result substitutions were made including a debut for under 23's-star Dylan Proctor with twenty minutes to go.
Centre half Rudy Misambo headed over the bar for Heys as they kept pressing but without the same intensity of the first half and on eighty-one minutes a lovely move involving full back Nathan Emery and Proctor who in turn found Davies 8 yards out but the keeper blocked his shot.
It proved a very controversial last five minutes to the game as Proctor broke through into the box and was tripped only for the referee to wave play on much to the infuriation of the Heys players and the visiting contingent in the crowd and as the temperature on the pitch heightened a collision between Prestwich striker Davies and home keeper Hodges in the penalty area brought an angry response from the Stockport players and as pushing and shoving followed and Heys Connor Berry was shown a second yellow card presumably for something said to the referee and the visitors were down to ten men.
Stockport then had a chance to finish the game as a contest when striker Jack Woolley was clean through but keeper Saunders rushed out to block the shot with his legs.
In a bad-tempered end to the game Prestwich captain Aaron Chalmers was also red carded in the dying embers after an altercation with the home bench to complete a disappointing afternoon for the visitors as that proved to be the final incident of the day.
Heys will look back at this one in frustration as while they never gave up and showed plenty of fighting spirit, they were not clinical enough in front of goal and its Stockport Georgians who progress to the second round.
Commentaires